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About IHN

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About IHN

Our Mission

The St. Louis Integrated Health Network, through collaboration and partnership, strives for quality, accessible and affordable healthcare services for all residents of Metropolitan St. Louis, with an emphasis on the medically underserved.

About

The St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN) is an organization that collaborates with community health centers, hospital systems, academic medical schools, public health departments and other safety net institutions to increase access to high-quality, affordable healthcare for all residents of Metropolitan St. Louis. The IHN encourages collaboration between health centers toward the common goal of increasing healthcare access and quality for the medically under-served. Their missions statement is: The St. Louis Integrated Health Network, through collaboration and partnership, strives for quality, accessible and affordable healthcare services for all residents of Metropolitan St. Louis, with an emphasis on the medically under-served.

History

In its October 2003 report, Recommendations for Improving the Delivery of Safety Net Primary and Specialty Care Services, the St. Louis Regional Health Commission recommended that current safety net providers form a permanent regional network to coordinate and integrate care to the medically under-served. This was followed by a federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) supporting the creation of such a network. And so, in November 2003, administrators from the area’s largest outpatient safety net providers gathered at the first organizational meeting of the St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN). Until 2016, the IHN was designated by HRSA as a Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN), which is defined as a group of safety net providers collaborating horizontally or vertically to improve access to care, enhance quality of care, and achieve cost efficiency through the redesign of practices to integrate services and optimize patient outcomes.

In 2004, IHN began to establish workgroups to plan for increased coordination and integration of safety net services. Since then, the CRC program, NCAP partnership, and Transitions of Care (TOC) Task Force have been established. In 2016, the RE-LINK Program and Health Services Social Network were established, as well as the Enhanced CenteringPregnancy initiative. The impact has been significant.